09 - Welcome to Camp Nightmare Read Online Free

Mike. There’s only two of them!”
    Jay gave Mike a playful shove toward the bed. He only meant to give him a
scare.
    But Mike stumbled—and fell onto the bed.
    The snakes darted in unison.
    I saw one of them clamp its teeth into Mike’s hand.
    Mike raised himself to his feet. He didn’t react at first. Then he uttered a
high-pitched shriek.
    Two drops of blood appeared on the back of his right hand. He stared down at
them, then grabbed the hand.
    “It bit me!” he shrieked.
    “Oh, no!” I cried.
    “Did it puncture the skin?” Colin asked. “Is it bleeding?”
    Jay rushed forward and grabbed Mike’s shoulder. “Hey, man—I’m really sorry,”
he said. “I didn’t mean to—”
    Mike groaned in pain. “It—really hurts,” he whispered. He was breathing
really hard, his chest heaving, making weird noises as he breathed.
    The snakes, coiled in the middle of his lower bunk, began to hiss again.
    “You’d better hurry to the nurse,” Jay said, his hand still on Mike’s
shoulder. “I’ll come with you.”
    “N-no,” Mike stammered. His face was as pale as a ghost’s. He held his hand
tightly. “I’ll go find her!” He burst out of the cabin, running at full speed.
The door slammed behind him.
    “Hey—I didn’t mean to push him, you know,” Jay explained to us. I could see
he was really upset. “I was just joking, just trying to scare him a little. I
didn’t mean for him to fall or anything….” His voice trailed off.
    “What are we going to do about them ?” I asked, pointing at the two
coiled snakes.
    “I’ll get Larry,” Colin offered. He started toward the door.
    “No, wait.” I called him back. “Look. They’ve moved onto Mike’s sheet,
right?”
    Jay and Colin followed my gaze to the bed. The snakes arched themselves high,
preparing to bite again.
    “So?” Jay asked, scratching his disheveled hair.
    “So we can wrap them up in the sheet and carry them outside,” I said.
    Jay stared at me. “Wish I’d thought of that. Let’s do it, man!”
    “You’ll get bit,” Colin warned.
    I stared at the snakes. They seemed to be studying me, too. “They can’t bite
us through the sheet,” I said.
    “They can try!” Colin exclaimed, hanging back.
    “If we’re fast enough,” I said, taking a cautious step toward the bed, “we
can wrap them up before they know what’s happening.”
    The snakes hissed out a warning, drawing themselves higher.
    “How did they get in here, anyway?” Colin asked.
    “Maybe the camp is crawling with snakes,” Jay said, grinning. “Maybe
you’ve got some in your bed, too, Colin!” He laughed.
    “Let’s get serious here,” I said sternly, my eyes locked on the coiled
snakes. “Are we going to try this or not?”
    “Yeah. Let’s do it,” Jay answered. “I mean, I owe it to Mike.”
    Colin remained silent.
    “I’ll bet I could grab one by the tail and swing him out through the window,”
Jay said. “You could grab the tail end of the other one and—”
    “Let’s try my plan first,” I suggested quietly.
    We crept over to the snakes, sneaking up on them. It was kind of silly since
they were staring right at us.
    I pointed to one end of the sheet, which was folded up onto the bed. “Grab it
there,” I instructed Jay. “Then pull it up.”
    He hesitated. “What if I miss? Or you miss?”
    “Then we’re in trouble,” I replied grimly. My eyes on the snakes, I reached
my hand forward to the other corner of the sheet. “Ready? On three,” I
whispered.
    My heart was in my mouth. I could barely choke out, “One, two, three.”
    At the count of three, we both grabbed for the ends of the sheet.
    “Pull!” I cried in a shrill voice I couldn’t believe was coming from me.
    We pulled up the sheet and brought the ends together, making a bundle.
    At the bottom of the bundle, the snakes wriggled frantically. I heard their
jaws snap. They wriggled so hard, the bottom of the bundle swung back and forth.
    “They don’t like this,” Jay said as we hurried to the door, carrying our
wriggling, swaying bundle between us, trying to